120 Hours of Yoga

Day 54, Hour 50 of 120 Hours of Yoga I am really starting to enjoy yoga, if not for the physical benefits, then at least for the stories I come away with. Today did not disappoint in the story area. I arrived 25 minutes early. KJ was filling in for another instructor for the 4:30pm class. I walked in and immediately saw Ryann who was seated, working on her computer tablet, and Phil and KJ who were standing at the check-in desk in passionate conversation about something. I had already checked-in using the app, and as I walked by the desk, KJ and Phil kept talking. None of them - not Ryann, KJ, or Phil - looked up to say hello. So I kept on walking, left my flip flops near the wall, and proceeded towards the hot room. I was almost out of the lobby - about 2 steps from being out of sight from the front desk - when I heard Phil say, "ready to get your sweat on?"  Was he talking to me? I have no idea. I have been to this studio almost everyday for 2 months now, and the on...

Day 53, Hour 49 of 120 Hours of Yoga "You don't have to wait until life isn't hard anymore, before you decide to be happy." -Nightbirde Today was hard. From the moment I woke up, until I sit here writing this just a few hours before bed, every.single.minute of this day has been hard.  I could write a logistical list of everything that went wrong today, starting with a sleepless night, then a 6am yoga class at a new (to me) studio that felt flat; a Monday of work after a long weekend, in a job that doesn't inspire me anymore, and an entire day of struggling with my son over summer classes that he CHOSE to sign up for (none of these classes are required) but has been consistently behind since the day they started ... and on and on and on ...  I have been on the brink of boiling over, emotionally, all day. And then I went to a 4:30pm yoga class at Modo, a studio that helps me to sweat it out, with an instructor that I really like (who I describe as "effervescent...

Day 48, Hour 43 of 120 Hours of Yoga The "Modo Flow" classes are seriously awesome and challenge me - a beginning yogi - in equal but different ways than the standard Modo yoga classes do. The pace of transition between movements is elevated, and some poses that I can't do (yet) get thrown in there, but there are always modifications and I do what I can. The studio seems a little hotter in the late afternoon and evening classes than it does in the morning, and the flow classes are scheduled later in the day. The increased room temperature and the faster pace equate to extra sweat, and I love it. It seems like the attendance is greater in the flow classes than the regular ones, and the extra bodies definitely contribute to a hotter room, too.  It's good! So day 48, hour 43 of yoga was spent at a 430pm flow class. I got there early, as usual. I'm so anxious that I won't be able to secure a spot along a wall if I show up later than 20 minutes before class, and so...

Day 41, Hour 36 of 120 Hours of Yoga A few days ago I attended a yoga class and it seemed like I was falling out of every single balancing pose before I even got into it. Toppling Tree, Standing Tree, Dancer's, Eagle .. every single pose that required me to balance at all, I felt shaky and weak, and needed to reset multiple times.  Even poses where I had both feet on the ground, but required a squat - or especially a squat and twist - were difficult, and I felt like I could easily topple over. This morning I was in class and had the exact opposite experience. My balancing poses felt strong, and many of them I was able to get into and hold for the entire count without falling-out or having to reset once. It's not that I'm significantly stronger or that my stabilizing/balancing muscles are that much more refined today than they were a few days ago. I'm finding that yoga, like any practice, is an experience with ebbs and flows. Two steps forward, one step back.  I read a q...

Day 37, Hour 32 of 120 Hours of Yoga Short entry today. I'm getting into the studio consistently, and noticing increased flexibility. Standing/balancing poses are still challenging, and today I actually felt like I had taken a few steps back in my progress with the balancing poses.  Dancer's Pose gave me particular trouble today; I fell out of the pose every single time I reached for my foot. I wasn't too disheartened, though. I figured my body was just working through some growing pains, or was tired. I've been running a bit lately, so maybe that had something to do with it. Some specific progress to report, happily! Reclining Hero's pose has always been painful for me. Literally painful. The extreme tightness in my IT bands, hips, and knees, makes even sitting in a kneeling position difficult. 37 days ago I would sit on my knees with my hands on the ground in front of me, taking some pressure off of my knees. I could barely sit on my knees; reclining back was not ...